Solana RPC Node Setup Guide (2025 Edition)

1. Introduction

Running a Solana RPC node is one of the most challenging — yet most valuable — roles in the Solana ecosystem. While a validator secures the network by voting, an RPC node serves data to wallets, exchanges, explorers, dApps, bots, and staking platforms.

Every transaction broadcast goes through RPC nodes. Every wallet balance check. Every smart contract call. These nodes are the public interface between Solana applications and the blockchain itself.

However, they require far more hardware than validators, carry higher I/O loads, and must respond to hundreds of thousands of requests per second. This guide covers everything needed to run a production-grade Solana RPC node.

2. What Is a Solana RPC Node?

An RPC (Remote Procedure Call) node is a specialized Solana node that exposes Solana’s API endpoints to external applications.

• Validators focus on voting and consensus.
• RPC Nodes focus on indexing and serving JSON-RPC data.

Validators SHOULD NOT serve RPC traffic — it reduces voting performance. Professional operators deploy separate machines for voting and RPC.

3. Why Run Your Own RPC Node?

1. No Rate Limits: Public endpoints (like Mainnet Beta) throttle heavily. Your node = your rules.
2. Reliability: During high TPS spikes (e.g., mints), public nodes fail. Yours stays up.
3. Custom Indexing: You can index historical data, archives, and custom parsers for analytics.
4. Privacy: Query the chain without leaking your IP/interests to third-party providers.

4. Hardware Requirements (2025)

RPC nodes are significantly heavier than validator nodes. Here are the correct 2025 requirements.

Minimum Specs (Development)

• CPU: 32 Cores (EPYC Milan)
• RAM: 256 GB
• NVMe: 2x 3.84 TB Gen4
• Network: 1-10 Gbps

Production Specs (High Performance)

• CPU: 64 Cores (Dual EPYC 7543/7763)
• RAM: 512 GB - 1 TB (Crucial for Account Indexing)
• NVMe: 2x 7.68 TB Gen4 (Accounts) + 1x 15.36 TB (Ledger)
• Network: 10-25 Gbps Dedicated

5. Comparing Hardware Roles

6. Choosing a Hosting Provider

Avoid Cloud Providers: AWS, GCP, and DigitalOcean throttle I/O. Your RPC node will collapse under load.

Recommended Bare Metal:

• Cherry Servers (Top Pick)
• Latitude.sh
• Hostkey
• OVH (High-Density NVMe range)

7. Installing the Solana RPC Node (Step-by-Step)

Step 1: Prepare Ubuntu

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
sudo apt install -y git curl tmux htop build-essential pkg-config libssl-dev

Step 2: Install Solana CLI

sh -c "$(curl -sSfL https://release.solana.com/stable/install)"
solana --version

Step 3: Create Directories

mkdir -p ~/solana-rpc/{ledger,accounts,logs}

Step 4: Download Snapshots

RPC nodes sync MUCH faster if you download a trusted snapshot first.

Step 5: Create Systemd Service

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/solana-rpc.service

Add the following config:

[Unit]
Description=Solana RPC Node
After=network-online.target

[Service]
User=root
LimitNOFILE=1000000
ExecStart=/root/.local/share/solana/install/active_release/bin/solana-validator \
  --ledger /root/solana-rpc/ledger \
  --accounts /root/solana-rpc/accounts \
  --rpc-port 8899 \
  --rpc-bind-address 0.0.0.0 \
  --full-rpc-api \
  --enable-rpc-transaction-history \
  --limit-ledger-size \
  --no-voting \
  --entrypoint entrypoint.mainnet-beta.solana.com:8001 \
  --wal-recovery-mode skip_any_corrupted_record \
  --dynamic-port-range 8000-8010 \
  --log /root/solana-rpc/logs/rpc.log

Restart=always
RestartSec=2

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start:

sudo systemctl daemon-reload
sudo systemctl enable solana-rpc
sudo systemctl start solana-rpc

8. RPC Node Parameters Explained

• --no-voting: Mandatory. RPC nodes strictly observe; they do not vote.
• --full-rpc-api: Enables the full suite of JSON-RPC methods.
• --enable-rpc-transaction-history: Allows `getConfirmedTransaction` queries (Heavy).
• --limit-ledger-size: Auto-deletes old ledger data to save disk space.

9. Essential RPC Performance Tuning

RPC nodes face heavy abuse. You must tune the kernel to survive.

sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf

net.core.rmem_max=26214400
net.core.wmem_max=26214400
net.ipv4.tcp_rmem=4096 87380 6291456
fs.file-max=1000000

Apply with sudo sysctl -p.

10. Setting Rate Limits (Nginx)

Direct exposure to port 8899 is dangerous. Use Nginx as a reverse proxy.

Example Nginx Limit:

limit_req_zone $binary_remote_addr zone=rpc:10m rate=50r/s;

This prevents a single bot from crashing your node.

11. Monitoring & Observability

You cannot fly blind. Install Prometheus + Grafana and the Solana Exporter. Watch these metrics:

• getProgramAccounts latency (The "Killer Query")
• Accounts DB Size (RAM usage)
• Network Ingress/Egress

12. RPC Node Types

1. Standard: Full API, no voting.
2. Private: For internal use only (firewalled).
3. Public: Accessible to the world (Requires heavy DDoS mitigation).

13. Costs

• Server: $400 - $1200/mo
• Bandwidth: $50 - $300/mo
• Storage Upgrades: $200 - $400/yr

Running a professional RPC node is an investment of $12k-20k/year.

14. Common RPC Mistakes

• Running on slow NVMe.
• Running on Cloud Providers (AWS/GCP).
• No rate limiting (Instant crash on mints).
• Mixing Validator + RPC roles on one machine.
• Not rotating logs (Disk fill up).

15. When NOT to Run an Answer RPC Node

Don't run one if you don't need high-volume API access, have a budget under $300/mo, or think you can "set it and forget it". RPC nodes require constant attention.

16. The Future (Firedancer & QUIC)

Firedancer (2025) will reduce hardware load via parallelized architecture. QUIC is replacing UDP for transactions, requiring updated network configs. BlockInfraHub will update this guide as these technologies mature.

17. Conclusion

If you need an enterprise-grade API, fast reliable access, and zero rate limits, running an RPC node is the best investment you can make.

Ready to build?

Order Your RPC Server (Cherry Servers) →